Thanks! You're getting me that deluxe Shadow Hearts - From the New World box for a present . . . right?

I was looking into what's included in that box set and there's a good deal of substance there! I REALLY wish the same sort of thing could be released in North America :cry: Lots of goodies there, including a nice DVD with some pretty cool features.

But what am I saying? What I really JUST want is an announced release date for North America. That's all I'm asking for!

Rage - I'm thinking there's a good deal of "Engrish" on the Shadow Hearts III stuff because this game essentially takes place in the States opposed to the whole European theme of the other two games. Maybe they wanted a good deal of "authenticity" with that? I dunno. But Kevin Grey is right about how the Japanese have a fair amount of English when it comes to this sort of thing.

Rage - I'm thinking there's a good deal of "Engrish" on the Shadow Hearts III stuff because this game essentially takes place in the States opposed to the whole European theme of the other two games. Maybe they wanted a good deal of "authenticity" with that? I dunno. But Kevin Grey is right about how the Japanese have a fair amount of English when it comes to this sort of thing.

Huh, cool. I want to try the game. I liked the first half of SH2, so I hope this comes over quickly.

I don't get why is there is a smattering of English in Japanese RPGs, either. In the Japanese version of Baten Kaitos, the whole intro was spoken in English, and a Japanese video of Dragon Quest 8 also showed the intro written in English. Status screen screenshots often show some English words, but mostly Japanese. It doesn't seem like it would help importers, as 95% of the game is still in Japanese. Anyone know why they do this?

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"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side." - The Big Bang Theory

From what I understand, Japanese are much more interested in learning a foreign language than we are. I suppose that makes sense as there are far more English speaking people in the world than Japanese speakers. As a lot of American culture makes its way over there, just as Japanese culture has come here.

I remember in one of the early MMORPG Japanese people would enjoy chatting just to work on their English. I suspect the average Japanese game player would know far more English than an American knows Japanese!

I got a creeping feeling that we won't a North American release of Shadow Hearts 3 any time soon, unless the game did surprisingly well in Japan. However, the odds are heavily stacked against it. Given that it will likely be overshadowed by the Square-Enix's 2005 Party this weekend, plus the release of GRANDIA III by Square-Enix next week.

This is a pity as Shadow Hearts 3 just received a very high score by Famitsu, 35/40, and an equivalent of "Editor's Choice". So this game is very high quality RPG.

I guess a lot of people missed my question above about whether people in NA would want to play an RPG made in Japan about the States. The top brass at Japanese publisher may conclude that the answer is no, given that a RPG made in the U.S. about Japan would likely receive little interest overthere as well. When taking into account that Shadow Hearts 2 did only around 110~120k in NA, there is significant risk involved in bringing it over.

I got a creeping feeling that we won't a North American release of Shadow Hearts 3 any time soon, unless the game did surprisingly well in Japan. However, the odds are heavily stacked against it. Given that it will likely be overshadowed by the Square-Enix's 2005 Party this weekend, plus the release of GRANDIA III by Square-Enix next week.

This is a pity as Shadow Hearts 3 just received a very high score by Famitsu, 35/40, and an equivalent of "Editor's Choice". So this game is very high quality RPG.

I guess a lot of people missed my question above about whether people in NA would want to play an RPG made in Japan about the States. The top brass at Japanese publisher may conclude that the answer is no, given that a RPG made in the U.S. about Japan would likely receive little interest overthere as well. When taking into account that Shadow Hearts 2 did only around 110~120k in NA, there is significant risk involved in bringing it over.

::plugs ears::

I'M NOT LISTENING. NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA

Seriously though, given the sales of the first two games, I could understand if it never made it to this side of the pond. It doesn't make me any less dissapointed about it, but I can understand the reasoning.

With such niche titles as Atelier Iris and Digital Devil Saga both selling well enough in the US to warrant sequels, I have to think Shadow Hearts 3 will make it here. The SH US fanbase isn't huge, but SH2 was very well-received, and I think the fact that it's set in the US would actually make it more appealing to the US audience. SH3 would probably sell about as well in the US as the first two games, but those sales are pretty much guaranteed, so hopefully publishers will take that into account.

IGN has a short hands-on preview along with some new screenshots and movies here.

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"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side." - The Big Bang Theory

IGN has further impressions from the Japanese version. Also, they're apparently assuming the game will be released in the US, as they comment on how a character will be translated into English. I hope they're right.

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"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side." - The Big Bang Theory

IGN has further impressions from the Japanese version. Also, they're apparently assuming the game will be released in the US, as they comment on how a character will be translated into English. I hope they're right.

Egads that article really makes me want that game badly. Really interesting stuff in there! The characters seem more zany than the previous installments' characters.

I think that the last sentence is a pretty big compliment towards the game:

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Let's hope that these [Kingdom Hearts 2, Phantasy Star Universe, Tales of the Abyss and Final Fantasy XII] are all as enjoyable as Shadow Hearts: From the New World.

If Shadow Hearts: From the New World gets released in North America I will get a Shadow Hearts tattoo on my body. . . . . . maybe.

I was kicking around an idea in my head during work today - does anyone remember the FANTASTIC trailers that were put out when Shadow Hearts Covenant came out? I absolutely loved them. I still have the "official trailer" voiced over by that pretty famous "movie voice" guy.

You know how trailers to movies really (usually) make or break whether you're interested in that particular movie? Well, I think Midway did a lot of advertising for Covenant. I remember seeing a lot of advertisements at Gamespot and the like. And perhaps emulating what they did with Covenant, i.e. making a very cool, professional, and exhilarating trailer - and exposing it more so than the Covenant one. I think I downloaded the trailer at the official site and it was naturally offered at Gamespot, IGN, and so on. But it just seems like Midway went way too overboard with the flash advertisements or whatever.

So this is what I was thinking: make a trailer for Shadow Hearts: From the New World. Just like the great Covenant one. Don't use NEARLY as much money for "graphical" advertisements through Gamespot and IGN. Instead, perhaps make the game trailer be played at movie theatres. I remember watching the Halo 2 trailer on the big screen and being wowed. I think if Midway did that along with a small print advertising campaign and MAYBE cutting the price to $39.99, they could perhaps get some more U.S. interest.

Eh, anyways just a thought after I watched the fantastic Covenant trailer.